According to the Daily Mail, the Chinese man named Wang who admitted to swallowing a raw snake’s gall-bladder has been hospitalised with worms in his lungs.

The case came to light after Wang went to a hospital in Suqian, Jiangsu province of eastern China, after experiencing breathing problems and severe pain for weeks. When the doctors asked him about his dietary routine, he said that he enjoyed eating crayfish, snail, and also proudly declared that he had once swallowed a snake’s gall bladder.

After a thorough examination, he was diagnosed with paragonimiasis, a food-borne parasitic infection caused by eating raw seafood that contains tapeworm eggs or drinking unclean water.

Doctors advise that meat should always be cooked before consuming.

Incidentally, this news comes at a time when the world is grappling with coronavirus, the origin of which is said to be China’s Huanan seafood market, known for its exotic meats. It is said that this wet market had a section selling wild animals, including badgers, wolf pups, snakes, bamboo rats and porcupines, which were butchered in the open air.

Of late, many countries have petitioned China to close such markets to avoid pandemics like this in future. Although Beijing officially banned the country’s wildlife trade in February, it has resisted closing the wet markets.